Maury County Mayor And ‘Tennessee Stands’ Challenge Legislators To Lead On Mandates
“We are debating masks when we should be discussing liberty, freedom and personal responsibility.” – Mayor Ogles
– Photos Courtesy of Tennessee Stands
Knox County, TN – On Saturday, December 19th, Tennessee Stands hosted a “NO More Mandates” Rally in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Founder of Tennessee Stands, Gary Humble opened the event followed by the keynote address by Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles.
Humble spoke of the current state of COVID-19 restrictions in place in Tennessee.
“This isn’t just our Governor’s fault. Our legislature went into recess during Covid, came back into session on June 1st. They could have fixed all of this then and there,” Humble said.
“The Governor took an oath to do two things, I’m going to give you a hint, one of them is not to keep you safe. He took an oath to uphold and defend the United States Constitution and to uphold and defend the Tennessee State Constitution. His oath ends with ‘So help me God’. That’s his oath, that’s it.”
Humble went on to say that the Governor’s duty is to defend Tennesseans’ individual liberties secured by the Tennessee State Constitution.
Humble read verbatim the oath that all Tennessee Senators and Representative take while being sworn into office.
Humble said, “Every legislator that you have ever voted for that has sat in a seat in the General Assembly has taken an oath, and sworn by God to never consent to or pass a bill or a law or a resolution that in any way would lessen or abridge your rights and privileges guaranteed by the Constitution of the State.”
Humble pointed out that the resolutions, executive orders, etc. that have been going on for the last ten months have been in violation of the State Constitution and the oaths that the Public Elected Officials swore to.
As Mayor of Maury County, Andy Ogles has refrained from issuing any mandates within his county and stated, “I’ve read the law.”
Ogles stated that any mandate would infringe on the individual freedoms of Tennessee’s residents and that any such mandate would be unconstitutional.
“We are debating masks when we should be discussing liberty, freedom and personal responsibility. I took an oath to defend our constitution and I will do so,” Ogles said.
As an elected official, he is one of the few who has publicly taken this stance and has asked Governor Bill Lee to bring an end to the emergency declaration and open up Tennessee.
Ogles stated, “It is time for the legislature to rein this in, rein our governor in and being this madness to an end.”
Ogles also expressed that regulations put in place to try to quell the spread of the virus have dramatically impeded the state’s economy.
Regarding the wearing of masks, Ogles said, “Masks have a role but they do not make you invincible. Covid is real. We need to encourage people to be socially responsible. We know who is at risk. Take precautions. It is that simple. We need people to work. We need businesses to thrive.”
In a conversation with The Tennessee Conservative, Ogles stated that “Defending liberty is for the good of the people, not for the good of the government.”
One of the points Ogles made during the rally was to encourage a plan to move the Knox County’s health board to an advisory role for the county’s health department.
Ogles stated that the other independent health boards in Tennessee are also “big offenders” and that he will be going after them next.
Independent health boards in Tennessee include those of Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, Madison, Shelby and Sullivan counties.
This is a developing story. The Tennessee Conservative will post updates as new information becomes available.
